My daughter has a cort guitar. It's a z series z42 les Paul alike twin humbuckers with a coil tab. Means it can sound like a les Paul or strat. It sounds, plays and looks great. You can pick them up for about 200.
Cort make guitars for many very well known makers including ibanez and sheckter.
Speak with Richard a Richards guitars he will point you in the right direction.

Guitars are worse than bikes for the last thing friday special. Sit somewhere quiet with chosen potential guitar purchase and play each string at each fret with an even force - checking for dead spots on the neck, odd vibrations, variations in action (the distance between string and fretboard). Learn a chord before shopping and move this up and down the neck to make sure it's comfortable. If you intend standing to play the guitar check it's comfortable on a strap - a badly balanced guitar, no matter how good it plays, is really annoying.

Some good suggestions so far. I'd add Jackson and ibanez though to your considerations, both do cheaper guitars that are well built.
Whatever you buy, you may want to have a set up done on the guitar which should cost <£30 and will improve how the guitar feels.

Hi wrecker
I'm in bristol too. A mate who lives near me sells lots of guitars on ebay (username bristolguitars). He turns his stock over quite frequently so if he doesn't have anything suitable now its worth checking back. It also might be worth contacting him anyway, as he'll have stuff that's not listed, and is a decent chap who will not give the hard sell.
I'll be selling a guitar soon as well. It's probably not an ideal first guitar but you're welcome to have a look anyway. It's 1978 Japanese made "Lincoln" just like the one on this page. http://www.jedistar.com/jedistar_vintage_guitar_dating_l1.htm
If you're buying new as others have said you can't go wrong with yamaha or ibanez. They are easy to play and well made. Pickups etc can always be upgraded, on your 1st guitar its all about a nice neck and fretboard, good action (helped by a decent bridge) and as somebody above said, a guitar that is well balanced when standing up which many are not

Wrecker, don't worry about going to a shop not knowing anything, a decent place will give you great advice, and there are loads of really great shops. Remember we all have to start somewhere. Go without saying, careful if you buy of the net, my dad recently tried to buy a particular ibanez 12 string from GAK ( normally very very good) but had to send both the guitars they sent him back, as they were both wrong, now dad knows guitars, but if you don't know anything...

Guitars are funny things really, I was looking for a leccy I liked for ages and was certain I didn't want a strat, then in a corner of a shop was this second hand Squire, and well, it's by far the nicest Ive played, and I tried loads trust me!!!

Thanks Peter, I'll keep an eye on the ebay account.
I'm wanting to play strokes, white stripes, foo fighters, that type of thing.
I haven't seen a yamaha which I like yet, so they may be out. The ibanez art range looks OK though.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the looks if I were you. I paid £275 for a quite beaten up sg2000 in 1980 bright crimson (yuk!). I still own it and to this day it's the finest guitar I've ever played. The colour has grown on me since but It still wouldn't be a colour of choice.

I struggle with long sentences
Basically just buy whatever you think looks nice.
I imagine many of the responses above are the equivalent of people listing their favourite bikes, saying you should try lots of bikes, and saying you should go on skills courses if you'd asked "I've never ridden a bike, what one should I get?".
When the answer really should be along the lines of just get one, anyone one, and have some fun.

Wrecker, sorry, but don't limit yourself to just "rock" you know? Guitar is a lovely instrument

Indeed, forget limiting yourself to rock, do it properly and limit yourself to FULL ON METAL!

As a guitarist of 12-13 years I found Rocksmith impossible to play well without actually knowing how to play the song in the first place

I find that the songs that I want to be good at and I’m familiar with I struggle with, yet I can perfect all of The Police songs at max level. The sodding Police! I’m not quite sure how I got to the age of 32 without having heard Roxanne though – I’ve heard references to the lyrics before and knew of the songs existence, but had never actually heard it before trying to play it on Rocksmith. :/

I also came to the realisation that Sting wrote really, really creepy songs.

Mr Toast mocks me because the first thing I did was download the Megadeth DLC, and I shun 90% of the tracklist.

Oh yeah I remember we changed the settings actually and it helped a bit. Like with Guitar Hero though, I still find it easier and more rewarding to play it properly I guess I can see how it might help with getting timing etc for beginners, but I'd still rather use Guitar Pro or something.

I went through the same thing a couple of years ago. I first bought an old 2nd hand Yam Pacifica, which I still have but had the pickups and all the electrics upgraded a while ago as when I wanted to upgrade (sound familiar??) I couldn't find anything for a few hundred quid which sounded better. Went through the Vintage LP stage too - got rid, nice but very heavy. I also have a handmade Telecaster which I bought for £80 on ebay, and a cheap semi acoustic Ibanez. Yes, guitars are like bikes!
I bought a really nice little Kustom Contender combi amp which now sits on top of a 1X12 cab - I agree with whoever said to spend a bit on an amp.
Lessons - I had a few to get the basics in place, and then went to Justin for more tips.
I can play a few known riffs, but most of the time I just noodle away for a while playing whatever notes sound good together
Enjoy!

Update; I know I said that I didn't want a strat.
The popular view was that a strat would be best for me to start with (with a SSH config). I got myself one of these;
I know, it's not really a strat but it's a similar type thing. Excited.
Thanks for the advice

Got to say, cheap guitars have come a long way since I was starting out in the mid 80's! I recall plywood Squires (awful) and second hand 70's Aria Pros.... Very nearly got a Yamaha SG, and gutted I didn't as they are rather spendy now! And I missed out on a Rosewood Telecaster too.... curses!

I did the same thing this time last year. Picked up a cheap Epiphone Les Paul Special(I) on ebay. It is a heavy guitar, but everyone who has tried it says it plays really nicely. Pick ups are a bit muddy, but, hell, it was cheap enough not to worry if I didn't like / couldn't play...

Wouldn't bother spending 200+ on the guitar, maybe 200 incl amp. Fender Mustang I is 90 odd quid, again, has worked well for my learning.

Ohh, and I found the whole "go to a shop" idea very intimidating. Easy to say when you can play a bit - shit advice (IMHO) if you're a proper newby learner